Puppy Love
by Chocolate Cheese
Summary: When a simple science experiment ends up being fatal, poor old Joey ends up six feet under. Fortunately, some rather odd magic and a pinch of fate bring him back to life. Unfortunately, he just happens to come back as a special gift for a certain CEO…
1. Mondays

By the way, if you are wondering what's going on with me, I've been busy with school work, especially as this year we have SATs. I suppose it isn't that big a thing, but I still want to do well, so I've been working really hard...

As far as this fic goes, I've changed the dub names to their original greatness, changed a couple of things, stitched up several plot holes and just generally fixed it up.

I will probably finish uploading chapters during this week, and I will continue to write as often as possible. By the way, I do not own Yugioh or anything else of worth, for that matter, save a rather twisted imagination and access to a computer.

Enjoy!

C.c

* * *

Mondays; How I hate Mondays. The first day of school; the first day of the week and it's always cold on Monday for some odd reason. This Monday is no different. I had to get up two hours earlier than I would do on a weekend because of school, and by the time I got there I had lost all feeling in my toes, not to mention my ears, nose, and fingers. And that was while I was wearing gloves and my jacket. I swear, it's even colder inside the school though; they are too cheap to pay for the heating, and love seeing us suffer. They won't let us wear our jackets in class, or force us to take them off if we do, even if it's below freezing.

Stupid teachers, stupid School, stupid Mondays…

I'm currently freezing my butt off in chemistry. Lucky for me, we are doing a practical which involves Bunsen burners: this means we get the added warmth of a lab coat, and twenty different Bunsen burner flames. I'm working with Yugi and Anzu for this experiment, as they are half decent at chemistry. I suck, of course, so I just watch and only ever help if something is going to explode or we are messing about with acids and alkali metals and stuff like that. Anyway, like I said, I was with Yugi and Anzu, and today's experiment was testing for glucose (in English that's sugar, I think). It looks quite fun, actually. We are using some funky blue gunk and putting it in the supposed glucose solution. Then we heat it up, and it should turn red or orange. Cool, eh? I think so, anyway. But still, I'll let Yugi and Anzu do it, as long as I can light the Bunsen burner.

That is, if Yugi will let me…

"Look, Katsuya. Last time you tried to light it you set fire to three books, a pencil case, my hair and Anzu's lab coat. My hair took a month to grow back. A. Month."

"Awww, come on!" I whined, "No fair! You said you'd let me! Besides, you could do with a haircut, not that I will set it on fire or anything but-"

"When, and why, did I ever say I'd let you?" Yugi asked, frowning suspiciously (and ignoring my final comment. Good job…I was suspecting that creepy puzzle dude to pop out and murder me…).

"Yesterday: at…Burger World!"

"Oh…" He said, falling (or at least pretending to out of pity) hook, line and sinker, "Oh, sorry I forgot, Jou. Go light it then…" He said, sighing heavily and tying his hair back nervously with a hair band he'd borrowed from Anzu.

He slipped on his goggles; I think most of the class did too when they realised I was walking over to the lit Bunsen on the teacher's desk.

I love it when I get my way: not that it's hard with Yugi. He's a total pushover. Still, I would never take advantage of him.

I approached the desk, only to be stopped by a rather curious looking Mr Masen, our chemistry teacher.

"And just what do you think you are doing anywhere near a naked flame, Jonouchi?"

"I'm getting some fire for my group's Bunsen." I replied honestly. For once, I had nothing to hide from a teacher.

"Really, now?" He growled, glaring at me suspiciously, "I'm not sure whether that it is wise to be attempting to pull a stunt like last weeks, Jonouchi,"

"What?"

"You know what I'm talking about," he said, a grim smirk creeping across his tired face, "No, I-"

I paused.

"Wait, are you implying that I deliberately set my Best friend's hair on fire?" I asked, nearly choking.

" 'Best friend' you say?" He grimaced, "

I was about to pick up the last remaining splint from a box on the table, when another hand grabbed it before I had the chance.

"Hey!" I shouted up at the person in front of me: The emphasis on up.

"What? Oh…it's just you…" An all too familiar voice growled, "Mind keeping it to a dull roar? You'll blow that flame out. Either that or explode the place with that noxious gas you call your breath."

"Shut your trap, Kaiba…"

"I would very much like to say the same to you…" He replied holding his nose and waving the splint in front of my face.

I growled and bared my teeth. Big mistake and a great excuse for Mister Moneybags to bring out that old and ever endearing phrase…

"Mutt." He smirked, knowing it would fire me up…

"I'm not a dog…" I hissed, "And can't you come up with any better insults than that? You know, original ones? Not ones you stole from Otogi…Not ones you have been using for years…" I said.

Ha! I just said something of vague intelligence…and in front of Kaiba, who just glared at me (You know, narrowing his eyes a bit more than normal and frowning a little more. He looks like he's glaring all the time…). But not one of is normal glares. He looked scary…real scary…

"Oh yes you are. And a stupid one at that. But no, I suppose I do have a question that even a dog like you can answer…" He jibed, practically glaring a hole into my forehead.

"What?" I stuttered. He is seriously frightening when he's angry: I bet every last employee he hasn't fired for fun is scared witless of him…

"Which is more, one or two?"

"Two, duh…Why do you ask?" I questioned.

And he answered by snatching my safety goggles off my face, nearly poking me in the eye with the splint in the process, and snapping them in two. He placed the glasses back into my hands: I was too shocked to take them off him.

"You got it right, mutt. Good dog. Now, Fetch!" He dropped the splint on the floor behind him as he turned and walked back in the opposite direction, "See you, mutt…"

"I'm no dog…" I growled inwardly.

I should be used to him insulting me by now: I'm not, and for some odd reason, his words always hurt me. I often wonder why he does it: Maybe just to see me squirm, or because he needs someone to let out his frustrations from work or home on. Whatever the reason, he chose me, and I seem to make a pretty good verbal punching bag.

I grudgingly picked up the splint and poked it into the fire; it lit. Slowly and carefully, I walked back over to our Bunsen.

"Hey, Yugi! Turn on the gas!" I said proudly, being extra careful with my lit splint. I continued to pace slowly.

"Careful, Katsuya…careful…" I whispered to myself as I dodged past a few other groups of people surrounding their experiments for warmth.

"Hurry up, Katsuya!"

"Yeah!" Moaned Anzu, folding her arms and tapping her foot impatiently on the floor.

"I'm coming! Sheesh!" I muttered, still staring directly at the fire on my fingers.

Wait.

Fire on my fingers?

"NOOOOOO! I'M ON FIRE!" I screeched, shaking my hand about like crazy and screaming. I blew on it, I waved it about and then I tried spitting on it. None of them worked, and one of them was gross, so tried to run them under a tap. Steam rose from my now stinging hand as the flames went out.

"Phew…" I sighed. I checked my fingers: everything looked okay. I suppose they were a bit charred and black, but they didn't hurt too much anymore.

"You okay, Katsuya?" Anzu asked, rushing over and messing with my hand.

"Get off…" I thought to myself, rolling my eyes. She's like the mother I never had…

"Are you hurt? Was it painful? Do you want to wash it with cold water again? Eeep! I think it's flaking…"

She was right: A large black flake of skin fell right off my finger. Ouch…

"Anzu…I'm fine…" I said, pulling my hand away from Anzu's and going to light the splint again.

Wait, no. Too dangerous. I don't want to set myself on fire again, let alone the rest of the class.

Hmm…what can I do? Let's see: what is flammable, self lighting and portable and can be found in this classroom?

Scanning the room, all I can see is people: Most of them I know pretty well.

Over in the far corner of the classroom I can still see Anzu and Yugi messing about with the blue stuff. Anzu, as usual, is being really dominating: pouring all the dangerous chemicals, not letting Yugi touch anything over room temperature and keeping a firm grasp on his wrist at all times. I suppose she's just being over protective: it's in her nature. She'll make a great mother one day…hec, maybe even to Yugi's kids…

Anyway, I shall remove that slightly disturbing thought from my head and continues on my mission for a portable source of fire…

Hey! A box of matches on the desk! I'm sure the teacher won't mind if I borrow these. It will be much safer if I light the flame from next to it, rather than carrying a burning stick across the classroom.

So, I decided to take the matches, discreetly of course, not that the teacher would have noticed anyway, and take them to light the fire.

I wandered back over to Yugi and the experiment stuff casually, trying not to arouse suspicion. I mean, it's not like I cared that I had stolen something. I do it all the time at the shops or even from people in my class.

I just had a really bad feeling: and I recognise it.

I know I've felt I before: it's sort of like a heavy feeling in my stomach, and every other time I've felt it, something bad has happened…

Duellist kingdom: on the boat, right before Insector Haga threw Exodia into the sea.

Battle City: when I met Namu, Malik's alias.

Kaiba's virtual world: after a rather nice dinner, then minutes previous to me donning my caveman costume…

And just now.

Call it instinct, call it paranoia: actually, you could call it indigestion, but I haven't had breakfast yet…

I just know one thing: something bad is going to happen.

Finally, I got back to my experiment and sat down on a stool. To my misfortune, it collapsed right underneath me, causing me to fall flat on my back. I grimaced, but had to pull myself up as Yugi and Anzu were both off getting other equipment.

Well, at least I knew what the warning was for. Nothing else bad to look forward to, I guess…

So why do I feel so weird?

"Ow…" I whined, slowly steadying myself. I limped over to the Bunsen, nevertheless, and fetched out the teacher's matches. Well, they were mine now, actually.

I was about to open the box and take out a match when Anzu came rushing up behind me, her arms full of test tubes, bottles and a tripod. She dumped them onto the desk.

"Jonouchi!" She exclaimed, spotting the matchbox and attempting to snatch it off me, "Are these yours?"

"Course not!" I said, smirking, "I borrowed them off……Honda in…French."

"Ummm…whatever…" Anzu sighed, backing off, "Light it then…" She waved her hand in the direction of the Bunsen burner, then wandered off and started mixing up more chemicals in a test tube.

I pushed open the box and looked at the contents: or the lack of them…

"Ahhh…great. Just my luck to steal an empty matchbox" I sighed, and put the box on the desk. Once again, my great luck kicked in and I missed, dropping the box on the floor.

And, hey presto: a lone match escapes on impact!

"Hey! There's one left!" I picked up the match from the floor and twiddled it about in my charred fingers.

Maybe my luck was changing or something…

Maybe things were going to be better today or at least for the rest of the lesson. Yeah, I know; one little good thing isn't going to change everything, but maybe it's a sign of slight hope.

Still…

Something's not right…

I struck the match: no fire.

I struck the match: no fire.

I struck the match: still no fire; not even a spark.

"Humph…maybe my luck isn't changing after all…" I thought sadly to myself, "I better try just one more time anyways…just to check…"

I began to slide the match along the rough side of the box. Sparks were beginning to fly off, and the match was getting hotter. It moved further down the strip and was nearly at the end when I heard a yell from behind me, accompanied by loud, fast footsteps…

"No! Jonouchi! The gas! Don't light the match!" A male voice screamed, diving to snatch the match out of my hand. Instinctively, I moved it out of his way.

And I bet you can just guess where to: right in front of the open gas tap.

I stared down in disbelief: the pipe that led to the Bunsen burner lay only a few centimetres from the tap, but it was no use putting it on now. Fire was already beginning to spread out from my match…

Towards me.

I tried to dodge the huge ball of flame heading straight towards me, but it was no use. It swallowed me whole.

Well, at least I wasn't cold any more…


	2. Realisation

Chapter 2, edited, uploaded and fixed.

Oh, as I deleted all my previous author notes along with the poop chapters, I would just like to triple thank every single one of my readers for their support, and I hope you all enjoy this version of my fic much more than the last. Believe me, It's better...

C.c

* * *

Hey…where am I? Everything is all black and weird. I can't feel anything. I can't move! What's going on? I feel like a piece of stiff cardboard….Kinda like one of Kaiba's over-starched trench coats…yeah… 

Wow, this is really freaking me out, even more so than an angry Kaiba. I wonder what happened to me. Am I Asleep? In a coma? I hope I'm still alive. Maybe I'm having one of those near death experiences. You know, like those ones where people having operations see themselves lying on an operating table, the pingy and beepy machines stuck on the same long note, then wake up the next minute as good as new.

Yeah…but I can't see myself lying on the Science lab floor. I can't see anything but nothingness…

Wait! I see…I see…a light?

How cliché…

I'm moving! At last! But I'm going straight at that little yellow light. Is that a good thing? I guess so…I might be waking up or something. Yup. I hope so. I bet I'm still lying on that floor, all burnt up with that guy passed out next to me and Anzu screeching her head off about us both being dead. I hope she's passed out too, now I think about it. I don't want to wake up to hear her screech of a voice in my ear. I hope Yugi is okay. He probably dodged the fire, or at least only got charred a little by it. I'm pretty sure I'll be in a messed up way. My face might be burnt off or something…urgh…that thought makes me shiver. And I dread to think what sort of insults Kaiba will come up with when he sees me! I better be okay…

Hey! I'm nearly there! I'm closer…closer…closer…I'm in!

"YEEEOOOOW!" I screamed (Hey! I can scream! Yay!). This is really hurting me right now…But look! I can see something again and I can hear voices. My friend's voices! Look! They are all standing there together, even Kaiba and Mokuba. There is Mai, My sis, Yugi, Anzu (damn…), Ryou, Honda, Duke and…is that Yugi's Grandpa? I can't really tell. He looks weird in a black suit. They all do, actually. Suits Mai (Hoo Har…couldn't resist the pun) though…wait a minute, why are they all dressed up? Doesn't matter, I'll ask later…

"What's up, guys?" I said, floating (huh? I can float? Nah…I must be hallucinating things…but with my sense of feelings…weird, huh?) over to them. They didn't reply, "Hello? Hellooooo? It's me, Katsuya!" I said, standing right in front of them. Still no reply, just a small sniff from Mai. I stood and watched them all. Yugi looked worse out of everyone, and he had a lot less hair than when I had last seen him. The blonde bangs at the front still seemed intact, but the rest of his hair was tied back in a tiny ponytail. Hey, hair is easily flammable, especially if you use as much hairspray and hair dye as Yugi.

I walked (floated) round the back of the group. Kaiba was a few meters behind everyone else and had his back turned. He looked as stuck up as usual, his face totally blank and emotionless. But something about the way he was standing or the unusual wetness of his eyes told me something: he was upset. Kaiba! Upset! It was amazing. First time I have seen any other emotion but smugness or anger from the guy. Hats off to the one that did it to him…

I wandered around the rest of my friends, poking and prodding them. They didn't notice. I even pulled a face at Honda and messed with his hair, but he didn't respond with his normal "DON'T MESS WITH THE HAIR!" and punch in the face or stomach that followed. I frowned. Why were they ignoring me? Had I done something wrong? They did all look pretty upset, especially Kaiba. Yeah…that's a good explanation. I must have really cheesed them off…But wouldn't they be angry?

I walked off from the group. If they were going to ignore me, I would do the same to them. Make them more upset, hopefully…

By now, I was starting to wonder about other things: Why was I floating? Why are they dressed up? And why do they look so sad? Maybe it was because they were in a graveyard…I mean; I only just noticed that but…hey! We are in a graveyard! You know, the places were they put people when they…well, you know. This place is majorly creepy, even if it does look modern. There are lots of shiny black marble gravestones, lots of green-grey mossy gravestones, and there is a very nice one with a statue of some kind of animal on it over where my friends are standing.

I went and had a closer look. It was made of a golden-yellow stone with pink and white flecks, polished so I could see my friend's reflections, but, strangely, not my own.

"Lucky sap…This dead guy must have been a billionaire…"

I bent down onto one knee and took a look at the text on the gravestone. It read:

_A great Friend_

_A great Brother_

_A great Puppy_

_KatsuyaJonouchi_

Stop. No. That's not right. Let me read that again…

_A great Friend_

_A great Brother_

_A great Puppy_

_Katsuya Jonouchi_

No. Still can't be right. Let me just check that…

_KatsuyaJonouchi_

"I'm dead…" I whispered, "I, Katsuya Jonouchi, am dead…"

* * *

By the way, I do not own Yugioh, however I do happen to be in the possession of a sewing machine, which I used to make myself a rather nice Kaiba cosplay with... 


	3. Destiny

This is a sort of a drabble and 4/5 of a chapter. Yes, way too short, I know...

* * *

Yep. I'm sure of it now. I've seen my gravestone, and I just watched my own funeral. It was a bit of a shock at first, but I guess you could say I am used to it now. Most of my friends ended up crying; even Honda. Not Kaiba of course, but he isn't exactly my friend. I swear at one point I saw tears well up in the corner of his left eye, but he quickly brushed that away with the sleeve of that dirty great purple trench coat of his. Even I felt quite sad. All my friends were mourning my death, thinking about never seeing my again, while I was right behind them the whole time. I just wanted to hug them all (except Kaiba) and say goodbye, but I couldn't. It was too late for that now.

All of a sudden, things are starting to fade into blackness again. This is even weirder than before. Hmm…I bet my time here is finally up…again. Well, at least I got to see my friends for a last time…Goodbye world…Goodbye Guys…

Goodbye Mondays…


	4. Boxed up: Let loose

Chapter 4: I mashed two chapters together here, for convenience of my lovely readers o

* * *

"Calm down! You'll run out of energy if you carry on like that!"

"No way, Big Brother! I'm too excited to calm down!"

The sound of the two voices woke me. I was laying in some kind of box-room thing, and it was dark and really stuffy. I thought I was going to melt or something. It was comfy though. I was on top of some kind of nice velvety cushion thing that was bigger than me. Suddenly, the box jerked and I was sent flying across to the other side. I hit the wall hard. Ouch is the one word I would use to describe it. That or dizzying. It was like being on a rollercoaster. I was sent flying all over the place, and it was painful. Really painful. Eventually, a large jolt from beneath me signalled the long awaited end to the violent movement of the box. But suddenly, I could hear the voices again.

"Look, I should be the excited one, it is my present." Growled the first, and obviously older voice,

"But you are excited, aren't you?" Chirped the high, squeaky, but no doubt similar, voice.

"Ummm…yes. Of course!" Said the first voice sarcastically.

"Great! And you'll be even more excited when you see what I got you…" Drinking up every little lie that the other voice was making.

"Remind me again, what is this for exactly?" The other one muttered sighing deeply.

"For being the best big brother in the world!" After this I heard something that sounding like a giggle, and then a slight grunt from what I presume was a hug that the older one really didn't want to receive, but did anyway.

"Excuse me, Mokuba Kaiba, I presume? It's ready!" I heard a young woman say to the two voices. Did she say Mokuba? Hmmm…that's weird…

"Great! Come on! Let's go and get it Seto!" Squealed the little one, his voice getting louder, and probably meaning it was closer too. Suddenly, I heard a door fly open and the running footsteps of a small boy.

Wait…he just said Seto, didn't he? Don't tell me it's the Kaiba brothers…

It sure was…

"What on earth is that thing?" I heard Kaiba (the old, grumpy one) ask in a tone of bewilderment and surprise that sounded almost unnatural in his voice.

"Open it and see…" Giggled Mokuba (The small cute, but inevitably still a relation to Moneybags, one). Suddenly, what I thought was the ceiling lifted off and I was greeted with a very up close view of Big Kaiba's face, which was currently contorted in an expression of complete shock and disgust. I tried to shout at him, but all that came out was a low growl.

"What the…what is this…it can't be…" He stammered, raising his eyebrows and leaving his mouth hanging open.

"Do you like it?" Asked Mokuba hopefully, coming into my line of vision and standing next to the ice cube that was Kaiba.

Kaiba put the box (containing me) down onto the floor and just stared down at me, opening and closing his mouth like a Goldfish. I stared right back (up) at him and made a low growling noise.

Wait a second, why am I so small, why am I in a box, and…did I just growl?

Oh, I get it now…

This is the weirdest day of my life…

"You…you...you got me a PUPPY?"

"WHAT?" I shouted (well, more like barked). I'm a dog? I got brought back to life as a stupid little dog? No way! This could not be any worse. I couldn't be more unlucky. A dog? No…

"Oh yes! I got you a puppy! He's only about two months old too! Isn't he cute?"

"Ummm…in a way…what breed is it? A Golden Retriever" He asked, still staring in disbelief at me.

"No: A Labrador. Golden Retrievers have longer hair!" Explained Mokuba proudly, beaming up at Kaiba senior. He didn't exactly beam back. It was more of an evil, slightly wobbly grin; it was obviously fake. Too bad: Mokuba fell for it…again…

"Faker..." I growled.

Kaiba suddenly stopped smiling and turned to face me with his icy cold glare that (ironically) burned me…

"I'm so glad you like it!" Mokuba giggled, hugging his rather disgruntled brother tightly round the waist, nearly suffocating the big guy.

"Hmmm…yes…" He wheezed, practically having to peel Mokuba off himself.

The two brothers stared at me, one smiling madly and the other (guess who?) giving me the glaring of a lifetime. Actually, he looked almost as scary as in the science lab…hey! I forgot about that! Wow! How could I forget about my own death? I'm so dumb…I wonder how my friends are; maybe they have all forgotten about me…I wonder how long after my death this is anyway. Hmmm…too many thoughts…Not now: I'll figure out the situation at hand first…Gosh…I feel like yawning…

"Look! He's tired!" Screeched Mokuba, jumping up and down as he pointed at me. I was, actually, pretty tired. That would be why I was yawning and stretching my paws (that sounded weird…) and that would be why Mokuba was getting all hyped. Maybe I looked cute as a puppy or something, or maybe Mokuba was high on sugary snacks. Either way, Kaiba was doing something very un-Kaiba like. He was smiling: straight at me…

* * *

After filling out some long boring forms, the Kaiba brothers finally took me out to their car, which happened to be a black stretch Limousine. I still hadn't been allowed out of the box, and Big Kaiba had put the lid back on as soon as he could. I did hear Mokuba begging him to let me out, but he just replied by telling him he didn't want me to muck up the leather seats.

After a fifteen minute drive we stopped. I was hauled out of the car and carried along a long drive before the sound of a key sliding into a lock made me jump.

"Seto! I think something is wrong with the puppy! The box is shaking!"

"Let's go inside first…" Muttered Kaiba as he opened the door. The two brothers and I made our way inside, their footsteps echoing off the marble flooring. I just lay completely still, and bored, inside my box, waiting to be freed. Eventually, after climbing several staircases, they went inside a room and stopped. I was dropped heavily onto a desk, despite Mokuba repeatedly screeching "Be gentle!" down Kaiba's ear, and then the lid was lifted. Once again, Kaiba's face glaring down on me was the first thing I saw. A few seconds later, however, a squealing Mokuba managed to knock him out of the way (don't know how: Mokuba is a midget and Kaiba must be at least six feet tall.) and it was now his face staring at me, except he didn't look evil.

"He's so cute, Seto!" He said, disappearing from view, "Can I please take him out of the box?"

"Yeah…lemme out!" I barked at the two brothers.

"Hmmm…fine; As long as it's only going to be in this room."

"Look, big brother! He is not an it, he is a he!" Argued Mokuba, walking back over towards me, "Actually, now I think about it, he needs a name. He is your puppy, Kaiba, so you can name him!"

"No!" The elder Kaiba and I simultaneously barked (literally, in my case).

"Please, Seto!" Pleaded Mokuba, appearing above me again.

"Hmmm…not now…" I heard Kaiba mumble from across the room, "Just the let it…I mean…him, out."

Mokuba lifted me carefully out of the box and set me down onto the hard wood flooring. I sat completely still for a moment, and then shakily began to wander across the floor to the other side of the room. My paws made a nice pitter-patter noise as I trotted along. This was quite nice actually. Walking on all fours was a new concept to me, but I have to say it's much easier. It took me a little longer as a puppy to walk across the room than I would have if I was human, but now I was getting the hang of it I was beginning to run a little. My tail was even wagging.

"Look at him go!" Screamed Mokuba, closely following behind me. Maybe a bit too close for my liking. I could hear his footsteps banging heavily on the ground. Imagine what would happen if one of those landed on me. I would be road kill (well, laminate flooring kill) for sure.

Maybe it was just my acute doggy hearing that was making his feet sound extra loud, or maybe he's just a loud walker, but either way something told me I needed to get away. I was pretty instinctive as a human, but now I was a dog I was practically ruled by instinct and gut feelings. So I began to (doggy) sprint around the room, dodging furniture and nearly crashing into the wall several times. But Mokuba didn't give up. He thought it was a game.

"Come back!" He called, chasing me wildly.

"Mokuba! You're scaring him!" Kaiba Yelled as he too began to chase me around the room. Who knew…Kaiba has some compassion after all…

"For goodness sake you idiots! Leave me alone!" I yelped at them as I slid around a sharp corner, narrowly missing the skirting board.

"Stop that damn puppy!" Kaiba screamed at Mokuba, tripping over a broken swivel chair that had been previously turned on its side by a shrieking Mokuba.

"I'm trying!" He replied, crashing into a wall, "He's too fast!"

"Maybe if you two imbeciles just stopped chasing me around I will stop running!" I howled.

"Mokuba, stop chasing him! He might stop running!"

"Umm okay…" Panted Mokuba instantly dropping to his knees and falling backwards onto the wall; he must have been tired…

As promised, I stopped running. Kaiba wobbled over (he was dizzy from running around so much) and picked me up. He was kind of squishing me, actually. He has a scarily tight grip…I can't breathe…

"Ummm…can I have some air, dude?" I coughed. Suddenly, Kaiba loosened his grip and mumbled something that sounded vaguely like "Sorry."

"This room is a dump…" I muttered, looking around at the various overturned furniture.

"What was that Mokuba?" Kaiba said, turning to face his little brother who was currently snoozing happily against the wall, "Oh…nothing…" He mumbled to himself, looking a little distraught.

Anyway, as I was saying, I sure had mucked up the place. My box was still intact, however the table it had been standing on was missing a leg and one of its chairs was on its back. On the wall opposite there was a small shoulder height dent, most likely from Kaiba repeatedly crashing into it. I had deliberately made him do that, of course. Very funny for me, but nevertheless, painful for him…

Kaiba had by now put me back down onto the floor, but hadn't hastened to keep me still. He had put me into the box and had given me an icy glare. I was staying put, for my own safety. I think he must have been tidying the room or something, and I daren't not peep over the box and have a look, but I could hear him dragging furniture (or something else heavy…maybe Mokuba…) across the floor and grunting as he did so.

"Weirdo…" I barked, "Weirdo, Freak, boffin, rich boy…" I snarled from inside my box. I heard a momentary pause in movement after saying this, and a heavy sigh from Kaiba.

Whatever happened, he's carried on anyway. I think Mokuba was that heavy thing I heard being dragged along the floor. He isn't there any more (Wow, I did manage to look out of my box without being put into a brown sac with some bricks and thrown into a river) at least. Kaiba has done a decent job in fixing the room. Most of the broken furniture isn't broken anymore, and even the wall looks better, for some odd reason.

"Where is that damn dog…?" I heard him mutter.

"Right over here you idiot…" I yapped.

"Oh…"

"What was that?"

"Nothing…it was nothing…" I heard him whispering as he found my box, "Ah, there you are. Come on; let's go get you some food. If you starve and die then Mokuba will be upset. I won't, of course, but if he gets upset, so do I."

"Whatever…I'm thirsty…" I said, yawning.

"I'll get you a drink too…" He murmured before carrying me downstairs to the kitchen by the scruff of the neck.

* * *

I. Do. Not. Own. Yugioh.

Get it?

Got it!

Good.


	5. Dog treats

Edited for spelling mistakes and a lapse in memory of dub names.

Thankyou all for the wonderful reviews, by the way. I'm afraid I didn't save any of my author's notes, but I suppose those I did mention know what I said. Still, I luff all of you for your wonderful support!

C.c

* * *

"Enjoying your food, you stupid dog?"

"Get lost, Kaiba. I'm eating…" I growled through a mouth full of food. Kaiba replied with a startled look and a low grunt.

"Seto! Where is the puppy?" I heard Mokuba yawn from across the kitchen.

"Over there. I fed him some of yesterdays left over chicken."

"You can't feed him that!" Shrieked Mokuba, rushing over and snatching the bowl from beneath me.

"Hey! I was enjoying that…"

"Give it back, Mokuba. I'm sure he was enjoying it." Kaiba answered shakily, his eyes going all shifty and trying to avoid mine. Freak…

"It might be mouldy! And he's only a puppy! He needs healthy stuff!"

Mokuba dropped the contents of my bowl into the bin and placed it into the sink. Kaiba held back a glare, then got up and opened the fridge.

"Well, what else can I feed him?"

"We can go out and buy some proper dog food!" Mokuba said, using his trademarked puppy dog eyes on his big brother, already knowing it was a pretty much definite "no" from his brother.

"No way…" He growled, turning to face me.

"Two can play at that game, rich boy!" I whimpered and put on my own puppy dog eyes. It wasn't that hard, actually, considering I'm now a dog. I bounded over and started running round his ankles (giving his left one a quick scratch). Nevertheless, he gave in pretty quickly.

"Hmmm…fine. Let's go. I'll drive."

"Well, actually, Seto…I was thinking maybe we could…well…" Mokuba said, biting his bottom lip.

"What, Mokuba?" Huffed Kaiba.

"We could…well…take the puppy out on his first walk!"

Stunned silence was all that followed. Kaiba had to really try hard to stop himself from throttling his little brother.

"F…f…fine…" He sighed, giving in again, "Have you got a leash?"

"WHAT?" I yelped, "I'm not wearing one of those! It's degrading!"

"Right here, Seto!" Mokuba said, skipping over to me and slipping the collar around my neck. He was obviously well prepared…

"Let's go…" Kaiba grumbled, following Mokuba and I to the front door.

------

This is great! The air, the sun, the freedom! Well, as much freedom you can have on a leash, especially when it's controlled by a grumpy CEO. We are only half way to the shops, but I am having a great time at the moment. Even Money Bags is enjoying himself. He and Mokuba are having a complicated conversation about something I don't understand, but I'm glad Kaiba is being nice to the little guy for once. I mean, he's much nicer to his brother than he is to me or my friends, but he's still not what I would call nice.

"Hey! Seto!" In heard a familiar voice squeal from in front of us. I looked up from the ground and stopped in my tracks. It was Yugi. And he was with Anzu, Honda, Duke and Ryou.

"Guys! It's me! Katsuya! I'm right here!" I began to bark and yelp madly at my friends. Kaiba was beginning to lose control of me.

"MOKUBA! What's wrong with the dog?" Yelled Kaiba.

"I don't know!"

"Well, find out!"

"Seto! Don't let go!"

"He's pulling too hard-"

"NOOOOO!" Mokuba yelled as Kaiba lost grip of my leash and I went whizzing towards Yugi, who just stood and watched the chaos, totally bewildered.

"N-n-nice dog…" Stuttered Ryou, hiding behind Anzu.

"Watch out Yugi!" She yelped, attempting to go behind Ryou (causing them to run around in circles after each other).

I dived at Yugi, and even though I was only a puppy, I managed to knock him over.

"Down, boy! Down!" He giggled as I barked and wagged my tail at him. I jumped off and let the little guy get up, then proceeded to sit.

"He's so cute!" Cooed Anzu as she bent down to stroke me. But before her hand got anywhere near me I began to growl.

"Whoa…what's wrong with him?" Duke asked Kaiba, raising an eyebrow at me, "Is he not properly trained yet?"

"No, he's not!" Mokuba chipped in before Kaiba could speak, "But me and Seto are going to train him, aren't we?"

This request was a bit too sudden for Kaiba's liking. He gave a small sigh.

"Mokuba, I can pay for him to be properly trained, you know, and I'm sure I can get the best for him."

Wow. He wants the best for me…

"No, Seto! We need to train him ourselves! Won't it be fun?"

"No…" Seto sighed; just quiet enough for Mokuba not to hear, but certainly loud enough for me.

Well, to be honest, I didn't want that to happen either way. I could certainly try and train myself; like that would be up to Kaiba's standards (set higher than his own).

There must be some way out of this.

Lucky for me, there was, and its name was Honda Hiroto.

"I trained my dog myself," He said casually, even though he was in the presence of Kaiba, "I'd be happy to train this little guy for you."

"Really, Honda?" Kaiba said, sounding a little bit surprised (and maybe disbelieving) at his kindness.

"Well, sure! I love dogs, and I have plenty of equipment left over from last time, not to mention dog treats, so I would gladly train…what's his name?"

"Seto hasn't picked one yet…" Mokuba teased, elbowing Kaiba in the side, "Gentle hint…" He whispered, winking at his big brother.

"Take the offer! Take the offer!" I yelped at Kaiba senior, running circles round Honda's ankles and occasionally trying to jump up. Too bad for me: he's as tall, if not taller, than Kaiba.

Wow…If I get to train with Honda I can maybe try and tell him who I am (if he tries to teach me to play scrabble…)! And then Kaiba won't want me any more (you know, being his worst enemy and all)! Then maybe Honda can become my owner…or maybe even Yugi…yeah…

"Calm down!" He laughed, bending down so I could hop up onto his leg, "You're going to need to…"

So, I did what I was told. Honda smirked at me, and reached into his jacket pocket. He pulled out what looked like a bone…but it wasn't a bone…It was a …

"Dog treat!" Mokuba yelled.

What I wanna know is why Honda had those in his pocket anyway…actually, I probably don't…

"Yuck…" I barked. No use: Honda couldn't hear me, so he held the treat out.

When I didn't instantly jump for joy and snatch it out of his hand, he frowned.

"Come on: it's a nice treat for being good. If you are good more often, then you might get some more of these." He coaxed, waving the small brown object at me.

"He's a dumb dog…he can't understand you…" Kaiba growled.

"I'll show you dumb, Kaiba!" I barked, baring my teeth at the CEO, "I'll give it a try!"

And so I did.

"You like that, huh?" Honda asked as I munched away at the treat.

"Yeah…" I mumbled through a mouthful of what I presume was chicken flavoured dog junk. It was pretty darn delicious if you ask me.

Anyway, after finishing my dog treat, Kaiba agreed to let Honda train me: every Thursday night from Six Thirty until Nine.

"Great! Can I go watch, Seto?" Mokuba pleaded.

"Sure. If it's okay with you…" He said, turning to Honda.

"Sure is!" Honda replied.

"I'll be there too, if you don't mind…" Anzu smiled and gave Honda thumbs up.

"Me too!" Yugi chirped.

As for Ryou, he was still looking pretty scared.

"You are coming too, aren't you, Ryou?" Anzu questioned. She was answered with a slight whimper and an incredibly freaked out Ryou sprinting off down the road.

"Well, that was weird…" Yugi said, yawning.

"Yes. This has all been very weird…" Kaiba hissed, "But if you don't mind, I'll be buying some dog food now…"

Kaiba grunted slightly as he brushed past my gang of friends, closely followed by Mokuba. Of course, I couldn't go into the shop, so I stayed outside with no-one to talk to or play with but a bike rack, drinks machine and a few empty glass bottles.


	6. I think it's chicken

If you have been following my story and have just skipped straight to here, please take heed and re-read the earlier chapters! I have added a couple of things, not to mention changed names, spellings and little bits of plot in general, so you'll be missing out. Same goes for later on! Anyways, enjoy the new, improved Puppy Love!

* * *

Late evening at the Kaiba Mansion…

Nothing much happening. I'm currently eating my dinner, along with the other Kaibas. I think they are having burger and chips or summat like that; not exactly posh, is it? Mokuba's choice, I expect.

Mokuba was happily munching away; chatting to his brother about what had happened at school yesterday, occasionally pausing to take a bite out of his burger or a handful of chips.

Sadly for Mokuba, Kaiba senior wasn't listening, just nodding and occasionally saying "Yeah". I was expecting Mokuba to stay oblivious to his brother's total rudeness for like the seventh time today, but instead he stopped talking.

"You aren't listening, are you?" He asked bluntly.

Kaiba looked up from his plate of food, which was still full, give or take a few chips.

"Course I am!" He sighed, twirling an empty fork in his fingers. Is he ever sincere?

"Is something wrong?"

"Nope…"

"Look, Seto: I can tell when something is wrong with you: always. What is it?"

"I'm fine, Mokuba. Honestly…"

"Come on! I only want to help!"

"Drop it, Mokuba…"

"Seto…"

"Please…"

"Seeeetoooo!"

"No…Mokuba…I'm warning you…"

"Seeeeet-"

"MOKUBA!" He yelled, "Get out…"

This I gotta see…

"What?" Mokuba whimpered, startled by his big brother's display of aggression.

"Get out: Take your food upstairs to your room and do your homework or something. Just don't come out until I say you can. Got it?"

"S-s-sure…" Mokuba whispered, tears welling up in his eyes, "I-I'm sorry…" He stuttered before running out of the room carrying his plate.

Wow: I never expected that…even from Kaiba…

"Harsh, Kaiba. Harsh…" I growled, plodding over to Mokuba's empty chair and leaping up onto the seat.

"Huh? What? Oh…What are you doing in here? Go on, scat!" He said, waving his hand vaguely in my direction and continuing to stare at his plate.

"Nah…I like it here…"

Kaiba raised an eyebrow at me.

"Fine. Stay. What do I care…?"

This was followed by another five minutes or so of awkward silence. Eventually, Kaiba caved.

"I need to go and apologize to Mokuba…"

"You sure do," I barked in agreement, "That was pretty mean, Moneybags."

"I know I was pretty mean, but he was being very nosey…"

"Yeah…but you were real harsh to that little kid…"

"I was really harsh…"

"Right on…"

"Thanks…" He mumbled.

"What was that?" I said, turning my head on its side…

You don't think…can he hear me?

"What am I talking to a dumb dog for?" He growled, putting his head into his hands.

"Chill, Kaiba. You are way too stressed. Tried anger management recently?"

"No…It was nothing…nothing…" He muttered, before leaping up out of his chair and bounding off upstairs.

"Can I have your chips?" I barked.

"Sure…" Came a slightly muffled reply.

Even later evening at the Kaiba Mansion…

I have been sitting here at the very top of the stairs, listening in on the conversation for hours now: well, not exactly listening, more like hearing random words in between sobs, yells and engine noise from outside.

It's a pretty dark place, this house. Even with the lights on. Kaiba must like it that way or something…Every room I have seen so far has been poorly lit (or not lit at all).

I can, however, see a bright light coming from the cracks underneath Mokuba's bedroom door.

Speaking of Mokuba's door, its opening….

And slamming again suddenly…

Well, someone has come out, and it sounds like Kaiba senior…

"Hey there, Moneybags: How'd it go?"

Kaiba ran straight past me, and up yet another flight of stairs.

"Wait up!" I yelled, pitter-pattering my way after him.

I managed to catch up with him pretty quickly: just before he slammed a large blue door in my little puppy dog nose.

"Aww, come on! Let me in!" I whimpered, scratching at the door. I heard a few heavy footsteps, and then a loud creak as the door opened slowly.

"Fine, stupid mutt…" Croaked Kaiba, his face hidden in darkness, "But only because your pathetic cries where annoying me…"

Kaiba let me into his room and watched me warily as I eyed the place in awe. His room was HUGE…And plain, just adding to the size: I was expecting something fancier than plain white walls with a blue bed, bedclothes and any other simple necessity or accessory to a bedroom.

I jumped up onto the very soft looking bed and ran around a bit. This felt very comfy…That and it sure would annoy the hec outta Kaiba…

"No…" He half sighed; half growled. To be honest, he didn't sound bothered at all…darn…

I continued to paw my way across the blue bedspread, until I found a nice comfortable spot on one of the three large fluffy pillows that sat at the very end of his bed.

"So, Kaiba: how did things go with Mokuba, not that I care…" I yawned, stretching my little puppy legs out like a cat, then curling back up into a nice comfy ball. He he…no human could do this…total upside!

Kaiba continued to stay totally silent and pace backwards and forwards across the room. Occasionally I could hear soft sobbing noises coming presumably from Mokuba's room, which must have been right beneath us, because I could hear them very clearly. The whole argument thing didn't seem like much, and Kaiba always apologized way too much to his brother if he shouted at him or something. It happened plenty a time when we went down to the supermarket to get my very yummy dog treats. Made the journey back here twice as long…

"Hello? Kaiba?" I barked, still sitting down on his pillow.

"Hmmm?" He replied, sniffing. Must have a cold…

"Yeah, it's me. I'm behind yoooouuu!"

"You still there, mutt?"

"I sure am…" I grunted.

"Stupid dog…" He mumbled hoarsely, walking over towards the bed and taking a seat a few meters to my left.

"Hey there, moneybags!" I yapped. Getting on his nerves without the threat of being throttled: yet another upside to the whole doggy thing…

"Shut it…" He snapped, his head turning round to face me. I still couldn't see his face. So darn dark in here…

"Nice, Kaiba…real nice…" I growled, getting up and having another stretch.

"Dumb mutt…you're getting hairs all over my pillow…" He sighed, resting his head in his hands. He sounded really weird: like he had a sore throat or something…maybe he had the flu….I hope so…

Kaiba shut up again for a while. From what I could see in the faint shadows on the wall, he had his head resting on one of his hands, and with the other he was fiddling with a small square thing. Course, I couldn't see what it was because of the stupid darkness: But I can solve that.

On Kaiba's small blue bedside table there was a bendy desk lamp sitting next to a fancy silver cube thing. I hopped down from the bed (Very scary…) and walked over to the light.

"What on earth…?" Kaiba growled, spotting me trying to squeeze behind his set of drawers, "Oh no you don't…" He said, getting up and reaching for me.

"Nooo!" I yelped as he lifted me by the tail (ouch…). However, my paws were still free, and I just about managed to reach the light switch.

There was a small click, and then the light flashed to life. It was pretty dim, but just enough to reveal the small square object…

And Kaiba's face…

Kaiba winced slightly as the light entered his eyes. Of course, this just made it more clear to me what was wrong with him: he had been crying.


	7. Seeing double

**Oh. My. Gosh.**

I am so, uber, **uber sorry** this took so long. I know I promised in the last chapter of T.I that I would update soon, but that was ages ago...

But anyway, this is the first time I have touched this thing in about 6 months, due to major writer's block and some **huge** problems concerning school.

But anyway, I want to dedicate this chapter to all of the people who have been waiting for it, especially Taylor and Tsukiko for their undying support and generally good fan-ness

**On with the story!**

* * *

A complete lack of sleep plus an already pretty lazy Jounouchi equals a very grouchy puppy. Thanks to Kaiba, his fire-at-will temper tantrums and his loud and snotty sobbing, I ended up awake all night, my head buried underneath a pillow in a vague attempt at blocking out the noise.

I was currently in the Kitchen, finishing off the remaining chips I hadn't eaten last night. They were cold, but apart from that were as delicious as they ever had been. Outside it appeared to be sunny, but frosty. It almost appeared that everything in Kaiba's massive back garden had been painted white.

A loud yawn from the hallway made my ears stand to attention. I look up to see a rough looking Mokuba pad drunkenly into the kitchen, one hand over his yawning mouth, the other scratching his very bad case of bed hair. Apart that though, he looked perfectly normal: no big red puffy eyes or tear tracks down his face. It almost looked as if nothing had happened.

"Morning," I yapped. Mokuba smiled at me and wandered over to the table.

"Good dog, but look at this mess!" He giggled, picking up the plates and piling the dirty cutlery on them, "I'll put them in the sink and get one of the maids to wash them later. But first, breakfast!"

With almost disturbingly high levels of cheer for someone to have in the morning, or point blanc ever, Mokuba set about pouring himself a bowl of brightly coloured cereal, fetching me a bowl of dog food, and brewing a black coffee which I presumed was for his brother.

That surprised me: they were arguing just last night, and now Mokuba was making coffee for Kaiba? How weird…

About fifteen minutes later, a loud thud and what sounded like a growl from directly above us indicated that Kaiba was at least awake, if not storming about his bedroom in a fit of early morning rage.

A few moments later, however, he was down in the Kitchen, calmly reading a broadsheet newspaper and sipping on his black coffee. Mokuba was sitting across the round table from his brother, happily shovelling a colourful array of puffed rice shapes into his smiling mouth.

It was beginning to dawn on me that what had happened the previous night may have been a daily occurrence: how on earth else could they recover from an argument like that so quickly? Maybe they resolved it in Mokuba's room after all…But then why would Kaiba have been crying? How weird…

"Seto, can I go play some videogames in my room? I've eaten all my breakfast," Mokuba panted, having completed his marathon cereal ingestion in record time.

Seto briefly glanced up from his paper to give Mokuba a faint smirk and nod of the head.

"As long as you get ready for school first: and don't forget your English assignment. You know, I was fluent in English at half your age," Kaiba chuckled.

Mokuba shot out of the kitchen and up the stairs almost as fast as he had eaten his cereal.

Kaiba continued to stare straight at where Mokuba had been a moments earlier for a few seconds, before his head came crashing down onto the table.

"Damn it," I heard him growl, banging a clenched fist on the table, "How the hell does he do that?"

"I wouldn't mind knowing how either. That's a good trick: screwing up Kaiba. Must learn how to do that one…"

Kaiba suddenly sat up.

"Mokuba? Is that you?"

"No, it's me," I said, trotting over to Mokuba's empty seat and jumping up onto it.

"Who exactly is me?"

"Me," I barked, ascending the table.

"Alright, you're following me, aren't you? Get out of my house!"

"I can't: no dog flaps."

Kaiba's eyes widened as his gaze was drawn onto me.

"Why hello there, Kaiba-boy!" I drawled in my best Pegasus voice. All the colour drained from Kaiba's already pale face.

"P-p-Pegasus?" he stammered, pushing his chair away from the table.

"Not quite…" I chuckled, advancing on the steadily backing away Kaiba.

"Who the hell are you?" He yelled, leaping out of his chair and holding it in front of himself like some kind of shield.

"I'm your puppy: Boo."

Kaiba yelped.

"No: impossible, dogs cannot talk, let alone communicate telepathically…"

"Oh, I'm no ordinary dog," I growled, getting ready to pounce.

I jumped down from the table and continued my advance on Kaiba, who by now was pressed flat against the opposing wall.

"Who…what the hell are you? Why can I hear you? Why are you here? Go away!" He yelled, his fear suddenly morphing in to violent anger as the chair was sent flying across the kitchen and into the window, which, surprisingly, remained intact.

"I am the ghost of your worst enemy! I have returned from the world of the dead to haunt you and your descendants until I am avenged, I say, avenged!"

I was finding it really hard not to laugh at this point: I had Kaiba throwing furniture, backed against a wall and thinking I was some strange undead zombie puppy, destined to haunt his family.

Kaiba remained silent for a moment. Slowly, but surely, a smirk began to appear on his previously astounded face.

"Mutt." He chuckled wryly.

"Yes, I am a dog," I replied, highly disappointed with his new reaction.

"No, not 'a' mutt, 'the' mutt," He said, relaxing his grasp on the wall and walking towards me.

"What? You figured me out!" I said, backing of in equal fear of him. He was tall, and highly intimidating, even in a white bathrobe and boxer shorts…

Suddenly, he paused and turned around.

"No, not possible: dogs cannot talk, Katsuya can barely talk, and why the hell would Katsuya be a puppy?"

"Because I died, retard, remember?" I shook my head, "Two days ago…as far as I know…"

"What?" Kaiba raised an eyebrow, "But…Katsuya is alive: he's been in school every day this week, and he's been the same old idiotic, but evidently fit and well, idiot the whole time…and it's Thursday. Two days ago was Tuesday."

Wait a second: if I'm not dead, then what the hell am I doing here? That can't be true.

"Want proof?" Kaiba said, grabbing me around the middle and hoisting me onto his shoulder, "You've got it,"

You know, it's almost a disappointment to see Domino high again: I kinda figured after I was dead, I would never have to return to school or continue my education.

But no, just to prove to me (and probably himself) that Katsuya Jounouchi is alive and well, he's brought me here, hidden in his school bag (thank goodness he left that silver briefcase of his at work) with a few stale dog treats and an impenetrable bottle of water.

Outside I could hear voices, and they were familiar…

"So, how did last night go?" I heard someone ask

"At the arcade?" I heard another person, presumably Yugi, answer.

"It was great! As per usual, Yugi beat everyone at everything and got high scores on every machine-" What sounded like a muffled Honda said.

"Almost every machine," Anzu interrupted a hint of mischief in her voice.

"Oh, get beat at DDR again, did we? You didn't tell us about that one," Otogi chuckled. I heard an indignant "Humph" from Yugi, before a loud noise from above me (which sounded like Kaiba throwing up, but probably just clearing his throat) abruptly ended their conversation.

"Hiroto, Yugi, Otogi, Mazaki, "He paused, "Mutt,"

"Umm…morning, Kaiba," Yugi greeted suspiciously, "What brings you here?"

Suddenly, I felt myself being hoisted out of the bag by a very large, painfully cold hand.

"This," He stated, holding me out with both hands for all to observe.

"What the hell is going on Kai…Oh my God…"

If I was the type to do so, I probably would have fainted: standing in front of me, dressed in his scruffy school uniform and carrying a tattered brown shoulder bag containing his school supplies (or lack thereof), was, well…

Me.

"Umm…Kaiba, bringing live animals into school is against the rules," Yugi nervously pointed out, his face reddening for no apparent reason other than the fact that Kaiba had just pulled a live puppy out of his bag and told him to look at it.

"Oh, so if I kill it, it won't get me in trouble? Works for me…"

"No!" I yelped, almost in synchronisation with other me.

"What was that, Wheeler?" Kaiba snapped.

"Which one?" I growled.

"Why the sudden protest? I would have expected a violent videogame junkie like you to revel in the thought of actually killing something in this reality, especially a sweet, innocent puppy like this."

The human me responded with a grunt and folded his arms.

"Why should I give you a reason, Kaiba?" He snarled.

"You don't have to. I think I understand perfectly well what's going on: I'm just quite surprised you had the adequate technology, or intelligence, for that matter, to pull something like this off,"

"What do you mean?" I barked in almost perfect synchronisation with the human me.

"Don't play the fool, mutt," Kaiba snarled, thrusting me in the human me's general direction, "Take it back to the alleyway where you found it. How on earth did you even find out I was getting a puppy? And how did you get inside the shelter to swap it?"

Kaiba's voice was getting louder and angrier with each word. He was beginning to gather quite an audience…

"I suppose you are a seasoned criminal: I expect the act of breaking and entering, as well as theft, are second nature to you. But what I don't understand is where you got the bugging technology, and how on earth you set the microphone to a frequency that only I could hear. Or maybe you bugged me to. Did you by any chance happen to break into my house and put one of those devices in my ear? Well, I'm sure all will be revealed soon enough. Take your mongrel," Kaiba snarled, dropping me on the floor, "It's settled then." Kaiba turned, and walked away.

"What the hell was that about?" The human I screeched at Kaiba's back, "Why the hell would I need to bug your house? What would be the point of that? And what the hell do you mean by seasoned criminal? And since when have you liked dogs? Hey! I'm talking to you!"

Without warning, the human me reached into his bag, and pulled out an already battered English book and sent it flying at Kaiba. And, thanks to my great aim, it hit him square in the back of the head.

Kaiba froze in his tracks.

Suddenly realising the possibly fatal consequence of what he had just done, the human me turned and ran.

Too late: Kaiba had him dangling off the ground several inches, held up by the collar of his school shirt.

"I was going to let it go, but it seems you have something of importance to tell me. However, there are better ways to catch my attention," Kaiba growled, dropping me on the floor, quickly followed by my English book come projectile, "Now, what did you want to tell me so badly you threw a book at me?"

* * *

Yay! Umm, that certainly moved the story on a bit. Figured out what on earth is going on yet? I'm sure you have, it's almost painfully obvious...

The references to the Jounouchis get very confsuing here, don't they? Ha ha! They are meant to be, do not fret : )

And OMYGODSHNESSLESSISH! Puppy Love is officially part of two C2s! I dunno if that's good or not, but I'm very pleased with that : D Thank you all!

_-hands out Jou the puppy plushies and dog biscuits-_


	8. Relative confusion

Ha ha! Updates! Glorious updates! I cannot believe I actually updated within like half a year of my last chapter! That's truly an update personal best for me...

Warnings for this chapter: Physics lesson

Enjoy!

* * *

Okay: I am confused beyond explanation.

I'm alive: well, at least one of me is alive, for all I know right now there are two of me, maybe three, or seven, or fifty…

Well, whatever: what matters is, I'm alive, in human form.

Still, that doesn't quite explain what I'm doing here: my first thought when I got like this was that I was dead and had been reincarnated as a dog. The idea that I may still be alive evidently never occurred to me.

It was hard to tell if I was dead or not anyway: it's not like Kaiba would care if I died, so no grieving of my loss to give it away. Probably no celebrations either, no matter how much he wanted to: he's way too "busy" with work and Kaiba Corp.

"So, mutt: it appears there is more truth to your story than I originally thought," I heard Kaiba growl from above me.

"Yeah," I barked back, peeking up at Kaiba through a gap between the top of the bag and the side, "But you really didn't have to beat me up in the process of discovering that,"

Kaiba chuckled, "I did not harm you in any way,"

"I meant the human me, idiot,"

"So did I," Kaiba replied, "You were too busy trying to gnaw my leg off at the ankle to see anything going on,"

"Whatever…" I yawned, "Anyhow, why the sudden change of heart?"

Kaiba remained silent.

"I thought you didn't believe in all this sort of thing, you know, souls and stuff,"

"I think you will find what I don't believe in is 'extra' souls," Kaiba replied casually, "I believe everyone has a Soul of some sort. Still, by soul I effectively mean personality, not ghost or something ridiculous like that,"

"Does that mean you don't believe in schizophrenics?"

"No, what I meant is that I think people who claim to have extra souls are simply saying they are schizophrenics,"

"Weirdo…" I muttered.

Kaiba looked down at the bag for a moment then returned his attention to whatever was in front of him.

"Anyway, to answer your previous question, I'm not really sure. It just appeared that the Human you had no idea what I was talking about. So, the most plausible, yet still impossible, explanation, is that you must be a reincarnation of yourself,"

"What? But how is that possible? I'm still alive!" I growled. Kaiba was making me even more confused than before…

"Okay, there are now two options: I can either explain it to you the hard way, which involves a good knowledge of the theory of relativity, or I can explain it the way you are more likely to understand: the idiot's guide, if you will,"

"Shut it, Kaiba," I growled, "Still, I'll go for option number two,"

Kaiba chuckled.

"I take it you know who Einstein was?"

"Well, duh," I snarled.

"Good," Kaiba paused, "Okay: if I am on a Bus going at 70 miles per hour, and I throw a ball which has a velocity of 20 miles per hour, what does the velocity of the ball appear to be to you standing at the Bus station?"

"Kaiba, I asked for the easy explanation, not a math lesson,"

"Just answer my question,"

I though for a moment. Nope: nothing. Kaiba rolled his eyes and chuckled.

"90 miles per hour. You add the two together, and that is how fast the ball appears to be moving. This is because the Bus is going at 70 miles per hour, you need to add on the 20 miles per hour the ball is going, and that is the speed the ball appears to be moving at,"

"Oh, that sorta makes sense…"

"And what velocity does the ball appear to go to me on the train?"

"20 miles per hour?"

"Yes. Does this all make sense?"

"Sure…"

Actually, it really didn't, and it didn't appear to have anything to do with my current situation.

"Now, are you aware of the speed of light?" Kaiba inquired, obviously expecting me to know the answer.

"What do you think?" I growled.

"186, 000 miles per second. And it remains constant. Always. No matter what the situation."

"Right…"

"Let's go back to my earlier example: I am on a Bus again, however this time the Bus is going at half the speed of light, 93, 000 miles per second. This time, instead of throwing a ball, I turn on a flashlight. At what speed does the light appear to travel to you standing alongside the tracks?"

"Ha! Easy…ummm…279, 000 miles per…what was it…second? Yeah!"

"No,"

"What?" I yelped, "But…I added the velocity things and…no way, you're cheating!"

"This is no game, mutt: this is highly complex physics. You are wrong because, like I said previously, the speed of light remains constant. Always. No matter what the situation: it wouldn't matter if the Bus was going at half a mile an hour, the light would appear to travel at 186, 000 miles per second," Kaiba continued, not giving me another chance to interrupt, "Okay, back to the Bus, only this time, you are on the Bus with the flashlight. When you switch it on, how fast does the light appear to travel to you?"

"Is it…the speed of light?" I answered gingerly.

"Yes!" Kaiba sighed, "It took you long enough to get it! But anyway, this seems a bit strange, doesn't it?"

"It sure does…and what does it have to do with me being a dog?"

"Absolutely everything,"

"Yeah right," I muttered…

"By now you probably understand the conflict: How is it possible that light always travels at the same speed, no matter how fast the source is moving? "

"Well, no, but I might if you carry on…" I said, lifting myself further out of the bag further in the vague hope that I might understand better if I could hear better.

"The equation vd/t stands for Distance travelled divided by Time taken to travel equals Velocity. This works with our fist situation: the ball could, if it remained at its constant velocity, travel 40 miles in 2 hours. 40 dived by 2 is 20: 20 miles per hour, the velocity the ball is travelling, and appears to travel to me. Add this on to the speed of the train, as you see both, and you get 90 miles per hour, the apparent velocity of the ball to you on the platform. If this is true, which it most certainly is, then how can the light appear to travel at the speed of light to both of us? It should to me, but not to you. This is the very thing Einstein contemplated. So, what do you think?"

"That the formula is wrong and the speed of light isn't constant or something?"

"Incorrect. This means that time, and maybe even distance, varies for observers, rather than velocity."

"In my second and third examples, the speed of light turns out to be exactly the same for you at the bus station and I on the bus because time, as measured by your watch, or a clock if you do not happen to own one, which I would highly suspect, ticked along at a slower pace than time measured by my highly accurate watch. However, this is not down to the inferiority of your technology. Not only has the time appeared to change, though, distance changed also. For you, on the bus I would have appeared a lot flatter and thinner than I actually was. However, for me on the bus, all would appear normal. However, time outside the bus would appear to be ticking along slower, and to me you would look much thinner and flatter."

"Now let's say you want to do some time traveling. Although this is highly improbable, you board a spaceship and go flying off into space at the speed of light. To me down on Earth, you appear to be hardly moving at all. However to you on the spaceship, again, all is normal. You carry on flying for another three years, and then decide to turn around and come back to earth. By the time you get back, you have aged six years. However, Earth has aged six hundred. And that is how you travel in time,"

If I understood correctly what Kaiba had just been going on about for the last fifteen minutes, he was saying that I had traveled back in time. It seemed a plausible theory, now I thought about it: that explains the fact that I'm not dead yet, anyway…

"I've got it! I've-"

"Before you state the obvious," Kaiba interrupted, "You did not travel back in time."

"And why not?" I growled indignantly, "Why else would you have spent all that time explaining that Einstein thing to me? You practically told me I traveled back in time! Why did you even bother?" I yelled, almost falling out of the bag with my struggling.

"To cross that flawed theory off your list of possible explanations: time is a one way journey. That was the original reason I did not believe you were the mutt's ghost" Kaiba stated, glancing down at the bag, "Get back in there!" He hissed at me, roughly pushing me back through the hole, "This is school; no live animals!"

"Then why are you still here? It's way past the end of a normal school day!"

Kaiba opened up his bag and lifted me out, "Look, seeing as there is no-one around, I suppose I can let you out for a bit. But if I get caught…"

"Got it!" I barked cheerfully, leaping out of his hands and onto the floor.

Kaiba and I continued to walk along in silence until we approached the school entrance. Kaiba stopped and looked behind him, then pulled out a pen and wrote something on his hand.

"There: I'll remember to do that later…" He muttered, slipping the pen behind his ear and continuing to walk.

That was weird…

"So," He said, turning to me again, "You didn't really explain what happened to you before, I mean, about your supposed death,"

"So?" I yawned, "I'm tired; can I go back in the bag?"

"No: you wanted to walk, so you shall walk. Now, please elaborate: I'm in the mood for a story,"

"Well, to be honest, I don't remember much," I paused: trying to remember your own death is deceptively hard, considering it is one of the few things certain to happen in life, "You know how people say right before you die, things go in slow motion? Well, it's not true."

"No?"

"No. It was more like things got fast forwarded: the last thing I remember is someone screaming at me not to light the match,"

"Let me guess: being the imbecile you are, you ignored Yugi's advice and lit it anyway,"

"Actually, it was already too late," I sighed.

Suddenly, something very odd occurred to me: Kaiba had said I had ignored 'Yugi's' advice, but the voice I remember was definitely not Yugi's. That's really weird, because I've never really thought it of great importance, but it appears I have friends other than Yugi in that class…

I decided not to mention it to Kaiba: he would probably say I was being stupid or something along those lines…

"Wait: why on earth did you have a match? And why did lighting it kill you?" Kaiba inquired, fetching the pen from behind his ear and fiddling with it.

"To light the Bunsen Burner with. I blew myself up by sticking it in front of the open gas pipe,"

"Why weren't you using a splint like a normal person?"

"Because you took the last one," I growled.

Kaiba stopped in his tracks.

"Wait: so, because I took the last splint, you decided to use matches?"

"Yeah. Why does that matter?"

Kaiba chuckled nervously, "Because it may mean I was partially responsible for your death,"

"Yeah right," I grunted, "It wouldn't have made a difference: fire is fire, whether it's on a match or a splint. Either way, I probably would have blown myself up,"

"Darn. And I was hoping that I was the one responsible for ridding the world of you,"

"Get lost," I growled, "Hey, Kaiba: what's that on your hand?"

Kaiba looked down at his hand, on which he had earlier scrawled something that, at least from where I was, was very much illegible, "Oh, its to remind me that you have training tonight," He replied.

"Oh," I said, squinting and straining to read his hand, "Looks more like…"

"What?" He growled, lifting it up and re-reading it himself.

"…Dig Transvestite fight?" I laughed out loud, "What the hell sort of training are you taking me to?"

"I'll have you know messy handwriting is a sign of intelligence!" Kaiba hissed, pinning his hand to his side in a vague attempt at hiding it from me.

"Then you must be one of the smartest people in existence,"

"Quiet, mutt," Kaiba hissed almost inaudibly.

"No way! I'll shut up when I like, moneybags,"

"No, I mean be quiet: I can't talk to you when there are people around: only I can hear you, remember?"

"Then why does it matter if I talk?"

"Because if I respond, I'm going to look just a little crazy," Kaiba hissed as a group of school girls passed us on the other side of the street.

Kaiba and I remained silent all the way back to his mansion: the volume of people steadily rose as we approached his home, which Kaiba appeared to find quite worrying.

As we approached the front door, a well made-up and smartly dressed woman carrying a microphone came running up to Kaiba.

"Hello! Shiho Nakamura, channel 7 news live at five. Mister Kaiba, recently it has been reported that Kaiba corp is undergoing a hostile takeover by-"

"Get off my property," He growled, hastily opening the door and letting me in.

"-a large, currently anonymous rival gaming company, who are currently in possession of over forty percent of the company's shares, a figure which is apparently on the rise," she continued, "It is expected that the takeover will be complete in about one months time. Reports also show that sales of Kaiba Corporation products are at an all time low, and in light of this, are re-starting its production of military vehicles and weaponry. Mister Kaiba, what do you have to say about these reports?"

"Bullshit," Kaiba growled, stepping inside and going to close the door. Unfortunately, the ever-persistent news lady had wedged her foot in the way of complete closure.

"Excuse me, sir, but we are live, so cursing is not really permitted,"

"Oh, I'm so sorry for fucking up your live broadcast. What a shitty interview this must be for you. Too bad my potty mouth means you can't broadcast it. Now, I have work to do, so I would really appreciate it if you got the hell off my property,"

The woman remained silent as Kaiba and I made our way indoors. Kaiba locked the door behind him.

"The media…" He muttered, "They should all just drop dead…"

"Nice," I said, half yawning.

Kaiba went wandering off upstairs, presumably to get changed out of school uniform. I decided to go exploring, considering the only rooms I knew in the house were the spare room (even though I highly suspect it wasn't the only room to spare in the house considering the size of the place), the kitchen and Kaiba's bedroom.

I decided to head upstairs, and go from top to bottom with my exploration.

It took me a while to run up all those steps, as I had to jump and scramble about to get up just one. The house was also four floors high, so I guess anyone would have taken a while and been pretty tired by the time they reached the top.

The fourth floor looked pretty bland: white walls, white doors, and white PVC window frames. Everything was pure brilliant white. Everything also looked as if it had recently been done up: hec, Kaiba definitely had the money to do out an entire floor. Problem was, why had it been left like this? No furniture, no lights or plug sockets anywhere. It appeared that any plans of refurbishing the floor had been abandoned.

I skipped on down to floor number three in the hope of seeing something more interesting.

I was greeted by blue. Everywhere blue: the walls were deep blue, skirting boards Prussian blue: even the curtains, window frames, doorknobs, doors and light switched were blue. It appeared Kaiba had a thing for flat colour…

The first room I met was one I knew: Kaiba's bedroom. It pretty much looked the same as it had done the previous night, and matched the hallway.

I moved on to next door: a huge bathroom, larger than my dad's entire flat. It too was very blue, however, as one would expect, things like the toilet and sink were white.

The rest of the rooms on the floor were either filled with cabinets, computers and office furniture or empty.

Floor number two. Mokuba's bedroom door, the first opposite the stairs, was locked, so I couldn't get inside and have a look.

Again, the rest of the floor appeared to be nothing but offices and storage.

Losing interest in the house quickly, I approached the last door on the corridor: the door was white, unlike the others on the floor, and had a brass knob. It was just about open, so I gave it a nudge with my nose and it creaked open slowly.

What I saw wasn't exactly what I was expecting, especially after having seen nothing but offices: the room was very bright and airy, with warm cream walls and thick cream carpeting. I walked past the door to get a better look at the other contents of the room.

A huge four poster bed made of what appeared to be pine-wood stood against the left hand wall. The canopy appeared to be made of Egyptian cotton, tied back with thick white ropes with huge tassels. Assortments of furry, fluffy, shiny, silky and glittering cushions were piled neatly against the head board, all of them clean and cream or white. To finish it off, a strip of cream colored silky material had been spread in a strip across the white linen duvet, flowing over the edges and onto the floor.

The entire opposite wall was made up of windows with white wooden frames, veiled by translucent white curtains. They fluttered slightly as I kicked the door closed behind me.

In the corner opposite the door, I noticed what looked like a wicker dog basket, filled with cream colored fluffy pillows.

If I hadn't known better, I would have jumped right into it and claimed the room as my own. However there really was no reason Kaiba would bother setting this whole thing up for me, so I figured it was best just to leave it for no and come back later…

I walked back over to the closed door…

Wait…closed?

* * *

Well...that was rather strange, wasn't it? Please let me know if my attempt at explaining the theory of relativity was any good (believe me, as random and boring as it may have seemed, it NEEDS to be there!). Just wait until the climax...then things start getting philosophical : )

Thankies for teh lurvely reviews and support! It's helped me get my writing hat back on, so I expect that I will add yet another chapter in the coming days...

C.c


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